Packing

I know when Kimberly and I were preparing for the Peace Corp we searched everywhere for some information on what to pack and what to pack it in. We weren't very successful so I hope that this might help some future Peace Corp volunteer...at least a little bit.

I can't tell anyone what to pack since I haven't actually gone, but I have been told that many people over pack. You can get many items you take in the country that you are going to. We chose to get one hiking pack and one backpack for each of us. Eventually, we ended up using one more bag to pack some additional items. So, the first picture is the backpacks that we are carrying on, and the second picture is the 3 bags that we are checking.

Another thing we did was get Compression Sacs (like vacuum bags, but you roll the air out yourself) to put some of our items in. It saves a good bit of space.

You'll see in the picture that we actually have a hiking pack and then an army duffel bag. Well, we were advised by someone at REI to get cheap army duffel bags to put the hiking pack in for checking it at the airport. Apparently, this is so that TSA doesn't cut the straps on your hiking pack. The army duffel bag is actually a good bag in itself, but it doesn't have as good of support for carrying as the hiking pack. I would recommend it as a good cheap bag alternative.

I hope this was helpful to someone. If you have any questions feel free to leave a message here with an email address and I'll try to respond as soon as possible.